Esterio Segura: Hybrid of a Chrysler

On view now

Esterio Segura highlights the complexity of everyday life in Cuba in artworks exploring the socio-political, cultural, and spiritual landscape of the island nation. Different manifestations of winged animals and machines, airplanes, and submarines appear in his art and represent themes of freedom, isolation, immigration, desire, and exile. Hybrid of a Chrysler, features Segura’s signature use of wings attached to the roof of a 1953 Chrysler Windsor. The car, like the classic autos used daily in Cuba, appears ready for flight. Hybrid of a Chrysler premiered at the Tampa Museum of Art in 2016 and has traveled across the globe to Venice, Italy and Washington DC, to Gainesville, Florida, and has now returned to Tampa.

In a recent interview, Segura shared, “The subject of flight is an idea that I have taken from the image of an airplane, the image of wings, and the consciousness of what travel meant to me. I was 25 when I first traveled outside of Cuba [and in] 2001, I started thinking seriously about making a project on this subject…The awareness of others entered the work—those who emigrate, or yearn to, or experience nostalgia, or miss people who may return or not. Above all, everything is specifically related to flight or travel. Hybrid of a Chrysler emerged from this nexus.”

Born in Santiago, Cuba, Segura attended the prestigious Instituto Superior de Arte (ISA) in Havana. His art, ranging from painting, sculpture, and installation, has been exhibited around the world and his works reside in prominent public and private collections. The Tampa Museum of Art recently acquired Segura’s Good Bye My Love, currently on view in the Patel Family Lobby. Segura’s art will be featured in the upcoming 2025 exhibition Under the Spell of the Palm Tree: The Rice Collection of Cuban Art.